Means for indicating the wear in journal bearings



T. n. MILLER MEANS FOR INDICATING TH E WEAR IN JOURNAL BEARINGS.

- APPLICATION FILED MAY 17, 1920. 1,433,217.

Patented 0011.24, 1922.

Patented Get. 24, 19.22.

THOMAS E. IVIILLER, OF SACRAMENTO, CALIFORNIA.

I'IIEANS FOR INDICATING THE WEAR IN JOURNAL BEARINGS.

Application filed May 17, 1920.

'1 0 all whom it may concern Be it known that I, TEoMAs R. MILLER, acitizen of. the United States, residing at Sacramento, in the county ofSacramento and State of California, have invented new and usefulImprovementsin Means for Indicating the Wear in Journal Bearings, ofwhich the following is a specification.

The present invention relates to simple and eflicacious means forindicating the wear and determining the limit of wear of babbitt liningsof brasses in the journal bearings of railroad rolling stock.

The present method of inspecting journal bearings to determine the wearof the linings thereof requires that the journal boxes be jacked up andthe brasses removed. Very oftenthe inspector puts a brass back into thebox thinking sufficient lining remains to permit of further use of thebrass when in reality not enough lining is left. This is true sincewithout a guage, it is difficult to determine the thickness and amountof wear of these linings. A great many hot boxes and burnt off journalsresult from the present practice of inspecting journal bearings.

It is the primary object'of my invention to eliminate the danger of hotboxes and burnt off journals, to simplify the present method ofinspection, and to provide a positive easily readable guage whereby thewear of the linings may be accurately and readily determined and thelimit of wear accurately indicated.

The invention possesses other advantages and features, some of which,with the foregoing, will be set forth at length in the follow ingdescription wherein I shall outline in full that form of the inventionwhich I have selected for illustration in the drawings accompanying andforming a part of the present specification. In said drawings, I haveshown one form of the construction of my invention, but it is to beunderstood that I donot limit myself to such form, since the inventionas expressed in the claim may be embodied in a plurality of forms.

Figure 1 is a front elevation of a part of a journal bearing constructedin accordance with this invention.

Figure 9 is a fragmentary side elevation of the bearing in Figure 1showing in dotted Serial No. 382,087.

lines the position of the parts when the lining has been worn to itssafe limit.

Figure 3 is a perspective view of the marking punch.

In carrying out my invention, as shown in the drawings, I make a clearlyvisible, dis

tinct mark 3 on the outside end 4t of the journal brass 5 of a railwaycar journal bearing, whereby when the journal box, not shown, is opened,the mark is presented to view. The mark is made after the new, or newlylined brass, is put into place in the bearing, with a special markingpunch 7, and assuming the babbitt lining 8 to be the standardone-quarter of an inch in thickness, the mark is made three-sixteenthsof an inch above the journal collar 9. The mark is preferably madeone-quarter of an inch long and one-sixteenth of an inch wide. The outerend of the journal brass 5 is provided with a recess 5which is adaptedto receive the marking tool 7 such that the mark 3 may be made at thebottom of the recess.

lVhen, upon inspection of the bearing, the mark 3 is shown flush withthe upper edge of the journal collar 9, there is but one-sixteenth of aninch of the lining 8 left, and the brass should be removed and relinedbefore further use, or a new brass put in, and in either case, marked asdescribed hereinbefore. At any time upon inspection, the mark 3 showsabove the journal collar, there is more than onetenth of an inch of thelining left and the brass may be used further. Thus, it will be seenthat it is possible with my invention to readily and easily determinethe wear of the lining and to accurately as certain the thickness of thelining at all times without removing the brass.

I facilitate and insure accuracy of marking by use of the special punch7. This punch near one end has fiat faces 10 and the die 11 isspacedthree-sixteenths of an inch from each flat face, said die beingone-sixteenth of an inch thick. Therefore, when the punch is inserted inthe journal box and one of the flat faces 10 is brought to rest on thejournal collar, the die will be in the correct position to mark thebrass and by striking the punch with a hammer or mallet, the. propermark, accurately placed, will be made. The special punch makes itpossible to quickly and accurately mark a large number of brasses in acomparatively short time.

I claim 1- The combination with a journal brass, of 5 a lining on saidbrass, a recess in the outer end of said brass, said recess beingadapted to receive a marklng tool complementary to the recess and havingmeans to mark the bottom of'said recess at a fixed point, the recess andthe mark therein lying in such relation to the collar of a cooperatingjournal that the mark is a less distance from the collar than thethickness of the said lining.

' THOMAS R. MILLER.

